You may notice that looking at screens right before bed can make it harder to fall asleep. It is not just you; studies have shown that the blue light that comes from smartphones, tablets, and laptop screens stimulates the brain and keeps us awake for longer. Blue light glasses are a popular option for protecting your eyes against blue light, but do blue glasses work for sleep?

Blue light glasses can help you fall asleep faster after a long day looking at screens. By partially blocking the blue light that enters your eyes, blue light glasses can increase your brain’s natural melatonin and help you fall asleep when you want to. 

In this article, we are going to discuss everything there is to know about blue light, blue light glasses and how they both affect your sleep cycle. If you want to learn how to improve your sleep with blue light glasses, this is the article you were searching for! 

Why Is Blue Light Bad for Sleep?

In order to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep for the necessary eight hours to enjoy a REM cycle, your brain creates melatonin. 

This hormone, produced by the pineal gland, is essential to your sleep patterns. Unfortunately, taking in hours of blue light every day decreases the amount of melatonin your brain makes. 

You have probably noticed that it can be much more challenging to fall asleep after staring at a screen. Of course, part of this is because of the stimulation the brain gets from whatever it is you are looking at, but the other reason is because of the blue light!

Looking at screens with blue light before bed will certainly affect your sleep cycle, but many people don’t know that hours of screen time during the day can do the same thing. 

What Do Blue Light Glasses Do?

Blue light glasses have become extremely popular over the past few years as many people work 100% online and, on average, spend over seven hours looking at screens daily. 

Including scrolling social media and working online, some people even spend more than sixteen hours on their screens every day, which can seriously inhibit their ability to fall and stay asleep. 

In order to combat this problem, you should absolutely invest in blue light glasses. Not only can they protect your eyes and decrease headaches, but by eliminating at least some of the blue light that enters your eyes, blue light glasses can help you sleep. 

Why Do Blue Light Glasses Work for Sleep?

Now that you know that blue light glasses certainly do work for sleep, let’s find out why!

Your body is a pretty amazing machine, but it desperately needs sleep in order to function properly. To ensure your body becomes tired and sleeps when needed, the pineal gland in your brain creates melatonin. 

This hormone makes you tired and helps you fall asleep, but studies have shown that extensive blue light retention decreases the amount of melatonin your brain makes, making it harder to fall and stay asleep. 

Although there has been some debate as to how much blue light the glasses can actually keep out of your eyes, they definitely don’t make it worse. 

If you spend hours a day looking at blue light screens, in addition to using blue light glasses, you should also take frequent breaks from the screen, keep your eyes moist, decrease the blue light within the display settings of your device, and turn off all screens at least an hour before you want to go to bed. 

Will I Sleep Better with Blue Light Glasses?

Blue light glasses block out those light waves that can keep your brain feeling jumpy and jittery. If your glasses are blocking those waves, you’ll have a calmer time viewing screens or working under fluorescent lights. Wearing blue light glasses for a few hours before bedtime is an excellent way to get your brain to begin calming down and preparing for sleep. 

Wearing blue light glasses will also help with potential headaches or migraines. Being in pain certainly hinders a person’s ability to fall asleep! Reducing your risk of painful headaches and eye strain will also help create a calming experience as you drift off to sleep. You could also:

Hopefully, these tips will help you get a good night’s sleep!

Final Thoughts

Let’s recap: Do blue light glasses work for sleep? You bet they do. 

Blue light glasses work for sleep because they block at least some of the blue light that is coming from your many screens that you look at during the day. Blue light is known to reduce the amount of melatonin your brain creates, which makes it harder to fall asleep and even stay asleep for the necessary eight hours.